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I got your letter. I was surprised when I heard that you’re mostly in
your village nowadays. I
didn’t even know you had a native village. You never told me. I
didn’t know I had a
grandfather on my mother’s side. To tell you the truth, I hadn’t
thought you had a father who
was alive till recently. Now I understand. Your father was a stubborn
man. He severed ties
with you because you converted to Islam. And it makes sense. I
recall what granny and
grandpa used to tell me when I was small—Hindus are narrow-
minded idol-worshippers and
treat all other religions as inferior. I think you’re living there now
because you’re suddenly
attracted to your native faith. But I miss you, Ammajaan. And I can’t
even call you. Your
village has no phone. Writing is quite painful. After living in
America for so long, I find it
easier to call. But now I can’t even write freely because every letter
that goes out of Saudi
passes through the censor authorities. I can’t write without fear—the
authorities interpret
words the way they think is right and their judgment is final. It
makes sense to call you. Come
back to Bangalore, at least for the sake of your son. I have sent this
letter through my friend,
Janaab Shabbir Khan, who lives in Lucknow. He told me that he was
visiting India for his
vacation and agreed to post this letter to you.
Now I must tell you about Saudi. It’s the most orthodox among all
Arab countries. No
other Arab country practises Islam with such purity or rigour. This is
the land where the Most
Holy Prophet (sallallahu alaiyhi wassallam) was born! I must
confess I felt suffocated when
I first landed here and thought this was a society with no freedom
whatsoever. I mean, after
living in the university campus in Texas for more than three years, I
had got used to a different
way of life. But I came here because the money is really very good
—I’m being paid double
the salary compared to those who studied in Asia. Actually, the
double salary offer was not
only because I was a top-ranking masters in petrochemical
engineering from a US university,
but also because I’m a Muslim: I was given priority in the selection
process. And you know
what, Ammajaan, salary is tax-free. Saudi is a paradise. No other
country, not even America,
has this opulence. You have an incredible variety of everything.
Plus, it’s all the best—only
the freshest food, the finest diamonds, gold, jewellery, silver and all
the latest electronic
gadgets. They import everything and sell it at really cheap prices and
they don’t have all those
stupid taxes that the so-called advanced economies levy on hard-
working people. Despite all
this, crime—even petty crimes like cheating, fraud and adultery that
are commonplace in the
so-called independent countries—is almost nil. They display all
those dazzling, expensive
jewellery in the open and don’t even keep it in glass cases. They
leave their shops open and
rush to the mosque when the Adhaan calls are given for Zuhar, Assar
and Mugrib namaz.
When they return, everything remains intact. Does it not surprise
you? The law is strict beyond
imagination: a thief is caught within minutes. His hands are chopped
off. There’s no question
of mercy and there’s no delay. Shariyat works beautifully. There’s
no nonsense of courts,appeals and counter-appeals, and benefit of
doubt and burden of proof and all those delaying
tactics here. The punishment is as severe as the crime, and justice is
as swift. I think this
system is very effective. I feel it just proves that such laws are
necessary to maintain order in
society.
Ammajaan, I know you don’t wear any jewellery except when you
attend parties. But
when I go to the malls—that’s pretty much all the entertainment I
get here—and I see the piles
of gold and jewellery, it makes me want to buy something for you.
And the quality of gold here
is amazing! You don’t get anything remotely close to this purity in
India. When you write to
me, tell me your wrist measurement (in centimetres). I’ll buy a pretty
set of gold bangles for
you. You must wear it—it’ll look really good on you. The only
problem, though, is the
extortionist duty they’ll levy when I get them to India. My Indian
colleagues tell me I would
need to bribe the customs fellows…but I think it’s worth it because
even after the taxes are
paid, it still works out cheaper.
Your loving son,
Nazir